VietNamNet Bridge – Nearly all the high quality products which have high sales have been counterfeited. Businesses have lost billions of dong because of the counterfeit goods, while state management agencies still fumble in the fight against counterfeiters.

When counterfeit goods look more beautiful than real goods

Nguyen Huu Vinh, Deputy Personnel and Administration Division of LG Vina, the owner of cosmetics brands of Essance, Ohui and Whoo, said that counterfeit goods not only cause reputational damage, but also badly affect the sales of the enterprise.

He said that the turnover of the company in the last few years just reached 70-75 percent of the expected level, despite thorough market survey and preparation for sale campaigns, because real goods have to compete with counterfeit goods in the market.

Also according to Vinh, in the past, the products with Essance brand were most counterfeited, because the products have reasonable prices. Previously, counterfeit goods were made in HCM City and neighboring provinces. Nowadays, they are made in China and then carried illegally to Vietnam.

“The packing of the products looks very good, and in some cases, it looks even more beautiful than that of real goods,” he said. For example, the packing sample which LG Vietnam ordered in South Korea contained errors. Meanwhile, the error cannot be found in the counterfeit goods

Nguyen Ba Cuong Truc from Nghia Pincers Company said that on November 15, the company, joining hands with the investigation agencies, discovered counterfeit goods at two shops in Hanoi.

Truc said that though the company regularly examines the doubtful points of sale and takes drastic measures to request sales agents to comply with the commitments on refusing counterfeit goods, the company cannot be sure that all the sales agents follow the promises.

Meanwhile, sales agents well understand that they would pocket huge profit when selling counterfeit goods, which is double the profit they gain when selling real goods.

Truc’s principle is that the thing that needs to do to fight against counterfeit goods not to eliminate sales agents, but to guide consumers how to differentiate real goods and counterfeit goods.

According to Lawyer Chau Huy Quang from LCT Law Firm, even the anti-counterfeit stickers (the stamps used to stick on products to certify the real goods) also can be counterfeited. This has made producers more puzzled in the fight against counterfeit goods.

Meanwhile, Lawyer Tran Hai Duc said that some enterprises made real products at first, but then they have products outsourced to Chinese producers. After the products are made in China, they import the products and then stick their labels to sell on the market. In this case, enterprises have their products themselves counterfeited for bigger profits.

Enterprises and management agencies need to join hands

Do Hong Quang, Deputy Head of the Market Management Sub-department, admitted that despite the great efforts, the sale of counterfeit and imitation goods still continues.

Nguyen Thanh Nhan, Deputy Head of the Binh Duong provincial market management sub-department, complained that he has got tired because of the overlapping and contradictory regulations.

Nhan said that previously, the criminals of industrial property infringement could face the criminal prosecution. However, other regulations stipulate that the commercial-scale infringements would not face the criminal prosecution. Due to the concept “commercial-scale infringement,” the agency could not take a lot of counterfeit consignments of goods worth billions of dong into legal proceedings.

Nhan also said that there lacks the cooperation between state management agencies and enterprises. His sub-department asked gas trading companies to join forces to clarify a counterfeit goods case, but none of them sent representatives to the meeting.

Lawyer Chau Huy Quang agrees that the legal framework in fighting against counterfeit goods is sufficient, but the implementation of the regulations is not good.

“In the last five years, only 22 cases of intellectual property infringement were found, which really does not truly reflect the real situation,” Quang said.

Source: TBKTSG